South Alabama-ULM: Tale of the Tape

By Emory HuntSouthernPigskin.com

This matchup between South Alabama and UL-Monroe is one of the more underrated games on the Week 8 college football schedule.

This matchup between South Alabama and UL-Monroe is one of the more underrated games on the Week 8 college football schedule. Both teams are trekking in the right direction and there is still a lot to play for in regards to the Sun Belt Conference standings, which has been super competitive this season.

South Alabama

The Jaguars are coming off of a bye week and welcome the Warhawks in for homecoming. The last time we saw South Alabama, they were upsetting the red hot Troy Trojans in front of a national audience on Wednesday night. I guess we should have seen that performance coming. The Jaguars have flirted with their 2nd victory since September 23rd against Idaho. That was a game in which they had a lead late in the 4th quarter before losing in overtime. The following week against a good Louisiana Tech team, they had a lead early and were down only one point late in the 3rd quarter before losing to the Bulldogs. This tells you that the Jags are a young football team that’s still trying to figure out how to win. We saw them put it all together against the Trojans.

In this game versus UL-Monroe, the biggest key for them is to stay ahead of the chains. When you’re a young football teams, it’s critical for you to stack positive plays on top of one another. That’s how you build confidence and that’s how you maintain the focus throughout the game.

UL-Monroe

The Warhawks were on a three game winning streak heading into their homecoming last week against Georgia State and let one get away from them in a 47-37 loss to the Panthers. What has been the bugaboo all season long for the Warhawks reared its ugly head again in that ball game: giving up the big play defensively. This season, offense has been the least of ULM’s worries. The Warhawks are excellent in that capacity as they average 39 points per game. If you’re scoring 39 points, you should win the majority of your games. This issue is that they’ve given up 38 points per game as well. And last week was a situation where they couldn’t score enough to overcome their defense giving up the big play.

In this game verses South Alabama, it will be imperative to make it a track meet. The Jaguars offense has been inconsistent all season long and do not have the ability to match point-for-point with the Warhawks. ULM should start this game trying to dictate both the tempo and the pace of the game offensively. Once they find a personnel advantage that they like, go no-huddle, uptempo to keep that personnel on the field.

Prediction

With the Warhawks defense being questionable at best, I fully expect South Alabama to have some success on offense in this game. However, I don’t think it’ll be enough to keep pace with ULM.

Emory Hunt - Emory Hunt, "The Czar of the Playbook", is a former UL Ragin' Cajun running back nw covering the Sun Belt for Southern Pigskin. His other work can be found at FootballGameplan.com.
Twitter: @FBallGameplan